My worry is two-fold, one, what will leaving my 3G docked and charging all the time do to the battery? And two, if the display is always running and showing the time, what will it do to the display? I'm worried the battery will be diminished by leaving it docked and the display getting "burn in" of the numbers.

I don't think you have anything to worry about for the battery. If it's fully charged, it runs on AC power like a computer. As for the screen, I doubt the LCD would show burn-in-- it's not like a plasma.

I've thought about using my iPad that way but am a little paranoid. Not that I'll hurt the device, but that a rare glitch will make me late for an important meeting or something. I realize iOS devices are highly reliable, but nothing is more reliable than a real alarm clock, and I've had rare occasions where I've grabbed my phone in the morning and found it locked up or shut down. It's probably only happened once or twice in a couple years, but just my luck it will happen when I've got a business trip scheduled or something.

I've thought about using my iPad that way but am a little paranoid. Not that I'll hurt the device, but that a rare glitch will make me late for an important meeting or something. I realize iOS devices are highly reliable, but nothing is more reliable than a real alarm clock, and I've had rare occasions where I've grabbed my phone in the morning and found it locked up or shut down. It's probably only happened once or twice in a couple years, but just my luck it will happen when I've got a business trip scheduled or something.

I'm probably worrying too much.

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I think it's a valid concern.

I am fortunate that my internal clock is fairly punctual, but I know some updates over the years have broken the alarm clock on my different iPhones.

Now I can leave my iPhone 4 in the other room at night and not be woken up at 5 in the morning by calls from morning person clients or friends while still being able to use all these great features on my 3G.

I just don't trust my iPhone as an alarm. I know odds are rare that something will happen, but I give myself pretty much the minimum amount of time I need to get ready, and I know my clock radio gets me up. I like waking up to music, and right now you need a 3rd party app to do that. I've heard too many stories about alarms failing if you get a text message, etc.

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